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When Maathai decided to vie for an elected position, she underestimated the determination of the state to frustrate and contain her ambitions. Wangari Maathai. Maathai was born in polygamous family. She sat for the Kenya Primary Examination in 1951 and scored Grade One. Eventually Maathai was awarded a PhD by the University of East Africa in 1971. Wangari Maathai (1940-2011), the first woman to obtain a PhD in East and Central Africa, was a scholar, and an environmental and human rights activist. In addition to her conservation work, Maathai was also an advocate for human rights, AIDS prevention, and womens issues, and she frequently represented these concerns at meetings of the United Nations General Assembly. Maathai shared her amazing life story with the world in the 2006 memoir Unbowed. Though such encounters in colonial Kenya were often limited, Maathai strived to base these relationships on equality, freedom, dignity, learning, and mobilization in common pursuit of sustainable development. Her husband insisted on her adopting his surname. 15. Thanks to a government-run exchange program, Maathai went to college in the United States, earning a masters degree in biology from the University of Pittsburgh. An interview with Prof. Cyrus Mutiso indicated that Prof. Mathaai built the GBM on existing self-improvement womens groups such as the Nyakinyua Mabati womens groups located in the Nyeri and Muranga Counties. As an alternative, she chose to further her education, which led to a doctorate in the field of veterinary science from the University of Giessen, a first for an eastern African woman, for which she was widely recognized. Wangari Maathai. By becoming a full-time paid coordinator, Maathai brought much needed energy and courage into the movement at a critical time of its development. 3. Maathais parents were among the first people to interact with and gain some education from the missionaries (athomi or asomi). Wangari Maathai held her Nobel Lecture December 10, 2004, in the Oslo City Hall, Norway. Maathai, Unbowed, 5960; and Ndegwa, Walking in Kenyatta Struggles, 8791. Colonialism in Kenya was a major force for social differentiation. stream Diversified international funding helped build a unique and solid international constituency that sustained the GBM financially and politically. 27 0 obj On Sunday, Wangari Maathai, the first African woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize, died. Wangari Maathai, in full Wangari Muta Maathai, (born April 1, 1940, Nyeri, Kenyadied September 25, 2011, Nairobi), Kenyan politician and environmental activist who was awarded the 2004 Nobel Prize for Peace, becoming the first Black African woman to win a Nobel Prize. She was an Honorary Councillor of the World Future Council. While undertaking her studies, Maathai learned how Christianity practiced in American, European, and African societies blended well with their dominant cultures. Although seen by some as an ill-advised move, in retrospect it proved a boon for the development of the GBM and the career of Maathai in environmental advocacy. Researching ticks at the University of Nairobi also exposed Maathai to the environmental degradation taking place in rural Kenya and its impact on the livelihoods of rural women. Richard Jolly, Underestimated Influence: UN Contributions to Development Ideas, Leadership, Influence and Impact, in International Development: Ideas, Experience, and Prospects, ed. When she won the Nobel Prize in 2004, the committee commended her holistic approach to sustainable development that embraces democracy, human rights, and womens rights in particular. Her first book, The Green Belt Movement: Sharing the Approach and the Experience (1988; rev. There her interest in the sciences was further nurtured by the Catholic nun teachers. She benefited mainly from the tide of change which was sweeping the country, not because she had articulated her own political ideas.42. In the midst of enormous challenges and obstacles, she created a formidable Green Belt Movement (GBM) to empower grassroots women. Other influential circumstances include an encounter on a settlers farm in the Nakuru region of Kenya, engagements with women in tree-planting ventures, and intense protracted struggles for the democratization of Kenya. In 1966, Maathai returned to Kenya confident and with high hopes for making a contribution to the newly independent country. Nevertheless, it was not easy balancing bringing up three children, earning a living, carving her identity, as well as navigating through turbulent political waters.29. The impact of these policies was felt mostly in the 60s and 70s as landless poor were settled, necessitating the cutting of trees on small-scale farms and reducing forest cover in districts like Nakuru, Uasin Gishu, Trans Nzoia, Nyandarua, Laikipia, and Kirinyaga. Future research could explore further the tensions that marriages of educated elites encountered, while still embedded in their ethnic traditions. Born in the midst of a world war and growing up among the conflicts and ambiguities of colonial domination, thereafter she cultivated, mobilized, and networked for a world of democratic and peaceful governance and sustainable development. Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree. He eventually became a member of parliament for a constituency in Nairobi. In 2007, the region would explode into postelection violence, something which she had foreseen and tried hard to mitigate by cultivating a culture of peace for almost two decades. In her lifetime, Dr. Wangari Maathai authored four books and numerous scientific publications. Copy this link, or click below to email it to a friend. The survival of the GBM under these circumstances may be attributed to the international stature that Maathai had acquired as an environmental warrior, and the existence of supporter networks and admirers scattered all over the world. 7. Thus, the NCWK provided an appropriate platform to develop and experiment with innovative ideas such as the GBM. As Maathai ascended to the leadership of the NCWK and the GBM, international concerns and thinking with regard to the linkages between development and environment were evolving and shaping global discourse and the engagement of governments, international agencies, and NGOs. Wangari Maathai Lesson Plan: Individual's Contributions Grade Levels: 3-5, 6-8 *Click to open and customize your own copy of the Wangari Maathai Lesson Plan . The early Gikuyu patterns of rural settlements are described by Jomo Kenyatta, Facing Mount Kenya: The Tribal Life of the Gikuyu (New York: Vintage Books, 1965); Duncan Ndegwa, Walking in Kenyatta Struggles: My Story, 2nd ed. When she was globally recognized with the award of the Nobel Peace Prize, she became an instant national icon.59 Duncan Ndegwa, an outstanding public servant from Nyeri County, brought out this ironic situation in his congratulatory letter to Maathai when he wrote: Lest you forget, and far away from any vestiges of dignity, we have seen you being shoved aside if not totally ignored by the government, labeled feminine chauvinist and treated like a common criminal all for being principled and living for a cause. Using Wangar Maathai's biography Unbowed, this paper explores the role of. 21. Kenyan politician and environmental activist Wangari Maathai was awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace in 2004 for her involvement in "sustainable development that embraces democracy, human rights, and women's rights in particular." She became the first Black African woman to achieve such an honor. Wangari Maathai was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2004, in recognition of her work with the Green Belt Movement, a group that organizes disadvantaged women in Africa to plant trees in order to preserve the environment and improve women' quality of life. Further information about these conferences can be found in the Links to Digital Materials section. xZF}W907s!d!c%:U]mT{/$uo_N>Br4@~{O[O^}ovp]n |~VJ[GOPZWer9_\RN.gz}z4bot#'t:U1m1bU.h]Y HRkC`X:w63u4_Hg~4R~0)(Jc)& AV{-1j$sNDD~OnyL>Re,LF*!j' M{1e%-lh O:0q|V6M1+a|k>>H.p`T@v5{b-. In honor and admiration of the mother and father of Jesus, she took the forenames Mary Josephine, and became popularly known among her colleagues in high school and college as Mary Jo. Upon her divorce, her ex-husband insisted that she drop his surname. Wangari Maathai went to college in the United States, earning degrees from Mount St. Scholastica College in Atchison, Kansas (1964) and the University of Pittsburgh (1966). Political activist and environmentalist Wangari Maathai was trained to be a leader. In these initial attempts, no distinct ideological orientation or program of action could distinguish her from other politicians in the country. It focused on the value of tree-planting programs, as well as dealing with environmental deterioration in rural areas resulting from the intensified cultivation of cash crops and population growth. Most studies have focused on the societal importance of marriage and the negative effects of divorce on families. The first indigenous woman in East and Central Africa to earn a doctorate degree, Professor Maathai started school in 1948 at Ihithe Primary School. Timothy Njoya, We the People: Thinking Heavenly Acting Kenyan (Nairobi, Kenya: WordAlive Publishers, 2017). The relevant conferences included: Environment and Development (Stockholm, Sweden, 1972), Hunger and World Food Problems (Rome, Italy, 1974), Population Growth and Development (Cairo, Egypt, 1974), Human Settlements (Vancouver, Canada, 1976), Science and Technology for Development (Vienna, Austria, 1979), and Convention on Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (1979). They are, however, not responsible for the views expressed herein or the interpretations given in the article. She creatively defied this by changing her last name to Maathai, by adding an a to her ex-husbands surname. Maathai was shaped by her rural environmentin which she lived on her mothers farmas well as her missionary education and later, by her education in the United States and Germany. Within this paradigm, racism is viewed as the primary impact factor, or in the language of Wangari Maathai, racism is a "root cause." The study draws on the African philosophical framework of Maat as a lens through which to view Maathai's philosophy, and which provides conceptual grounding for understanding that philosophy. Creatively defied this by changing her last name to Maathai, by adding a. With and gain some education from the missionaries ( athomi or asomi ) her interest in the 2006 Unbowed. African societies blended well with their dominant cultures hopes for making a contribution to the newly country. And gain some education from the tide of change which was sweeping the country, not because she articulated! Wangar Maathai & # x27 ; s biography Unbowed, this paper the. 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